About last night …

Just for the sake of argument – and a good argument might be therapeutic after that traumatic Shootout loss in Buffalo – let’s say your Montreal Canadiens miss the playoffs by a point.
That means that when late April rolls around, the Bell Centre will be dark and the team will be losing $4 million in revenue for each playoff game not being played.
Even if the Canadiens were to be swept out of the first round, they would play at least two home games.
Missing out on that by a single point means Ryan White, who is making a prorated $687,500 this season, will cost Geoff Molson $8 million dollars.

Hockey is a team game, and it’s rare you can single out one player as responsible for a loss. But it happens, and it happened in Buffalo.

The Canadiens had this one in the bag. Tomas Plekanec – along with Carey Price, co-MVP of the Canadiens through 10 games – scored his second goal 45 seconds into the third period to give the Canadiens a 4-2 lead. The goal drove a dagger into the hearts of the Sabres, who had seized momentum in the seesaw game with an 18-shot second period.

Less than seven minutes later, with the Canadiens in control and cruising, White shot a harpoon through his teammates, his coach and Canadiens’ fans.

What was White thinking when he pounced on veteran agitator Steve Ott?

Was he thinking at all?

White was back in the lineup after three games as a healthy scratch. He had ensconced himself in Michel Therrien’s doghouse with two minors and a major during a loss in Ottawa. It was not his first night of irrationality.

So what’s to be done with a player who gets into pointless fights and takes brain-dead penalties.

The Canadiens could trade White to Hockey Night in Canada, but P.J. Stock has the spot in perpetuity. Maybe the Team 690?

Maybe I’m being too hard on White, a nice, friendly Western kid who’s unfailingly cooperative with the media. But as surprisingly pleasant as the first part of the season has been, this Montreal Canadiens isn’t good enough to survive indiscipline.

White wasn’t the only Canadien to have an off-night in Buffalo.

Erik Cole looks slow and distracted. Alexei Emelin, for all his big hits, gets confused and out of position. The L’Antichambre gang thinks he should switch sides.

And what was Colby Armstrong doing on the ice when Buffalo tied it up with two ticks left on the clock?

But the team got stellar performances from Plekanec, Rene Bourque, P.K. Subban, Raphael Diaz, Lars Eller, Brandon Prust and, yes, Peter Budaj, who faced more shots than Carey Price has in any game this season.

Brendan Gallagher scored his fourth and Alex Galchenyuk started the Shootout with a beauty. Hey coach, how about more even-strength minutes for the kids?

If you project last season’s results on a 48-game schedule, it should take 54 points to make the playoffs.

The Canadiens need 41 points in their remaining 38 games – 21 of which will be on the road.

Yep….sure he f@#$% up but like you say he’s all heart. not the best fighter but backs down from nobody. He was also a leader and pretty good hockey player in Jr. I thought he’d be a Therrien type of player but maybe not. hope we sticks around.

…Kerry Fraser explains ‘good goal’ calls by the referee should be reviewable …I thought that had already been implemented, but obviously not

…so, the referee Peel line of sight could not see the puck being dislodged by Ott’s interference, yet what bothers Me as an ex-goaltender, is the referee certainly had a clear view of Ott present in the middle of My paint flailing for the puck on top of Budaj

…Ott was not pushed or prodded into the paint …He purposefully went there, and made no attempt to exit

…that, for Me, should have been sufficient reason to blow his whistle, and/or rule no goal

…the ‘paint’ is there for a purpose, to delineate for the opposition where they are NOT supposed to be/enter …otherwise, the NHL should erase the blue zone

It’s these illogical, inconsistent obvious irrational blurring of rules that drive Me crazy as a Fan

…I’m not crying ‘victim’ as a biased Habs Fan, because these things even out over time, …for example, the loss of this particular point partially compensates for the 2 points We should not have earned in Ottawa, when their clearly ‘good goal’ was disallowed

…but One would think that after 100 years of experience creating and tweaking the rules of the game of hockey, that the NHL would have solved this years ago

Glad to see you guys are done rippin Whitey. The kid was just doing what he was praised for doing against Washington.
I was one of the few that liked the hiring of MT but my opinion of him has gone down a notch over this.
I hope this doesn’t ruin the kids confidence. He can be valuable to this team going forward with more experience. Every team needs a rat killer and he’ll be perfect in that role.

By who?
Nobody I read/heard from.
It was a similar situation where he ended up with a ton of penalty minutes for nothing, while Fleischman only got 2 for boarding.
He has to figure out/be told how to deal with situations like that. That’s twice that he’s started fighting someone who hasn’t been ready to fight, and has ended up getting a pile of minutes as a result, which hurts the team when it should be giving the boys a boost.

I praised him, but that wasn’t a selfish play either. That was standing up for a teammate. This instance was nothing the same. The team also seemed to relish killing that penalty due to the fact it was standing up for teammate.

my dad mentioned to me that this year will be much harder for Desharnais, because teams will key in on him much more then before.
so far he seems to be right. Now I think it’s fair to let him try and adapt and get over that hump of teams paying more attention to him. But how much of a leash does he get?

And in fairness to him, he can neither maximise his potential nor try to adjust his Mod Op until Pacioretty fully recovers from surgery and Cole gets past his slow start (or injury or whatever it is that has him at 50%).

Was at the game last night. Even the Sabre faithful, just about fell off their seats, when the boys in TO, no surprise here, gave them the goal to tie the game! Before the ruling came down, the Ref was trying to drop the puck. He was calling the Habs to the face off circle, and he was stopped by the boys in TO, who decided to review the goal! We’ve prolly all seen Fraser by now, saying it was no goal. Duh!!!

As for White, he jumped the gun for sure, but, the whole place saw Scott put his big mit on White, from the bench. No call!! The refs absolutely suck more this year than ever. It makes a mockery of the whole league when these guys behave like their the ones we pay to see! Bush league, NHL!!

I think Eller deserve a prolonged chance to play with someone with skill levels to match his own. Either between the kids, or, with Patches and Cole. Having said that, he appears to have stone hands around the net, but, he is big, fast and plays decent in his own zone. DD cannot win a draw, in fact other than Plecs, occasionally, they give up the puck way too often. Last night it was glaringly bad!. They lose possession even when the brutal refs throw the other team’s centerman out. It’s probably the ONLY thing I ever agree with Grapes about. The linesmen throwing guys out of the faceoff is effecting the outcome of games! One more reason, the NHL is bush league.

Budjai played a good game overall. Last night, he was not the problem. Glad Price will be in net against the Laffs…I hate the way they don’t seem to get up for these clowns!

What worked last year should not be cast in stone. Eller needs to have the chance to show what he can do, and he is playing better hockey than Desharnais. And they need to light a fire under Cole and Pacioretty.

That said, management may shy away from such a move as we could end up with something akin to the Richard Riots.

Know what, I’m over the whole thing. Still grabbed a point out of it and it’s a learning process for a team that is significantly different from last year’s.

I wouldn’t go making big lineup changes. I know everyone wants to blow up the Desharnais line … I think it’s a mistake. That line scored like 80 goals last year. Cole is a slow starter, Pacioretty has not gotten untracked, and teams are all over Desharnais even worse than the commentariat. But I still say the defensive attention being paid to that line is allowing the other lines room. Habs are certainly not hurting for offence right now.

The only change I’d make is the obvious one: Subban replaces Diaz on the second pairing and plays more minutes. It’s time for Therrien’s humility lesson to end.

This is a bad year to be a negative fan, because guess what, this is a really good hockey team. Better, in my opinion, than the 1st place team of 2008, and far better than the team that went to the ECF a few years ago. If they stay relatively healthy, they’re going deep in the playoffs.

About the DD line, when the idea behind the unit is that there are two power forwards to create space for an undersized centerman who can use that space and time then you need MaxPac and Cole to be doing their jobs, which they obviously aren’t. I’d give MaxPac more time as he’s coming back from surgery, but Cole really hasn’t looked good so far even considering that he starts slow.

So the result is that everyone on the line looks bad, and that doesn’t help things.

fwiw I had a chance to watch Brady Vail in Peterborough last night – been trying to come up with the right description of his game but in fact its is very non descript. He has puck awareness – follows the thing around all the time, however he rarely puts his stick on it. For a guy of his size I really wish he was more agressive – digging the puck out of the boards instead of waiting for it. That said his skating was not bad for a guy who started hockey on inline skates. A project that will need another year in junior and at least a couple in Hamilton.

He maybe shouldn’t have taken the bait but that was a B.S. call. Ott should have gotten 2 for obstruction and he skated into him after the hit like he wanted to fight. They could have given Scott another 2 for punching White from the bench.

Interesting. I watch the games when I get home from work around 10:30. On this rare occasion my wife was up and nattered at me while I tried to watch the game. The loss, I thought, was squarely on her shoulders.

5 PLAYER QUESTIONS:
1. Ryan White. If you’re the coach, what do you do with him?
2. First Line. Is Bourque-Pleks-Gio our first line?
3. Bourque. Is this the REAL Rene Bourque? Are you suprised?
4. Emelin. I love Emelin but have other teams found a weakness getting around him? What do you do?
5. Markov. We KNOW Marky has helped the PP, but is Markov really as good as he was pre-inujury, or are people saying that because he hit the twine a couple of times.
SD
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Listen to the Smart Dog. He knows his poop!

3. Real Rene is somewhere in between, but no denying that he has taken a complete 180 form last year and looks like a steal at his cap hit.

4. Hope Markov doesn`t get hurt so Emelin can keep playing with him and learn the positional ropes. Or maybe the opposite, because we all saw what relying on Markov to save you ass in a D pairing can do to a carrer afterwards (see Komisarek, Mike)

5. He`s as skilled as ever pre injury, but is slower. So, en effet, no, he is not as good. I would rest him here and there, hopefully he ends up playing about as many games as Carey this year (40).

1. Read him a riot act and let him loose with a warning that if does this again, he’ll be making paper planes for a while
2. At this moment it does look like it, which is really not that inspiring.
3. Surprised and this is not a real Bourque. Just like the Habs, he’ll come down and come down hard
4. Well, a glorious dman that he was, JJ, should have an answer to that. I think Emelin needs some tweaking (TM) to his game… it’s not like he isn’t an NHL material
5. He hasn’t looked that great in Habs own end… nor did he look terrible. He is still decent just not worth the money he’s getting.

1. Have him miss a game or two or more and in the meantime make him watch the games with Mellanby sitting beside explaining the game as he sees it.
2. For now it clearly is our best line.
3. Not surprised, very happy.
4. Emeilin will be fine, ups and downs in a season. I am comfortable he will be fine.
5. I know for certain he is 3 years older since all the injuries. Physically he can’t be as good as he was 3 years ago. He probably isn’t as good, but is still useful. MT needs to start gaining trust in other Dmen in critical situations also, not just Markov.

1. Ryan White has probably learned his lesson, but I think he still needs to sit.
2. Bourque-Pleks-Gio = first line, but hopefully only temporarily because they aren’t good enough. They might become good enough with someone other than Gionta.
3. His history tells us that we didn’t have the real Bourque last year.
4. Emelin should be able to adjust.
5. Markov is being relied on too heavily. He’s best on the PP, and should be used somewhat less in other situations. Give him lots of time still but shave a few minutes off. Give them to PK, who is our best D IMO.

1. Pressbox till the snow melts (in Antarctica).
2. Yes.
3. Yes. Yes. (Hey, got any No questions? I feel like a Péquiste on Referendum Day.)
4. Probably should be on the right side.
5. Markov will never be as good as he was, but Markov at 75 per cent is better than every other Dman except P.K.

1. Call his mom and see if she can talk to him. Nothing else seems to be working

2. Yes

3. This is the real Bourque. The other Bourque was also the real Bourque. Jekyll and Hyde, if you will. Glad Hyde is the one playing right now.

4. Not sure, I didn’t see his mistakes last night (didn’t watch the game). Hopefully, he is still adjusting.

5. Markov kind of scares me on defense. He always has. I think he is a cerebral player, but when he gets caught out of position he looks really bad. I think he has been slowed and getting caught is becoming more common. Still glad he is on my team though.

1. Consign him to the Press Box indefinitely.
2. It is right now and the second line is not the Desharnais line.
3. Not completely surprised given that he was injured. Talk about no excuses, the kid has just gone out there and gotten it done. The unsung hero to date IMHO.
4. I am concerned about the cage that he has been wearing, does he have to wear it and for how long? He seems more tentative since he has donned it.
5. No doubt he is different. Too early to tell if he is as good.

1. Bench him & coach him. He’ll figure it out.
2. Yes, especially if/when Gionta gets going.
3. Pretty much, and not really. I saw a lot of the Flames.
4. Put him back on the left side where he belongs.
5. A bit slower and hesitant because he knows it.

1. Re-assign him to section 400 for Saturday. Let him pummel Leaf fans.
2. Yep.
3. Yep. Pleasantly so, yes.
4. Gotta try switching sides, maybe that stirs something.
5. Agree with others on this, he’s not the same Markov, but he’s still top 2 on this team and on most teams for that matter.

1. Give him a blue vest and have him greet fans coming in, or package him up with Weber for Yakupov;
2. Nope.
3. Yup. Nope.
4. It’s a bump in the road, and he’ll adjust.
5. Markov is two years older, and his knee probably feels like it ditched Bobby Orr and ran to Russia. But he remains a top player and the most important d-man on the team.

1. Ryan White. If you’re the coach, what do you do with him?Bench Lars Eller! But seriously thank God that Therrien has a whipping boy who actually deserves it unlike Eller and Subban. Sit White down. Give him the talk. Again. Make him watch a game or two from the press box,at least until Colby Armstrong does something so stupid/useless that it is his turn to sit. Which is astonishing in that it has not happened yet.

2. First Line. Is Bourque-Pleks-Gio our first line?Absolutely. No doubt. Really by definition whatever line Plekanec is on is the first line unless coaches decide to feed him scrub linemates

3. Bourque. Is this the REAL Rene Bourque? Are you suprised?I hope so. Not surprised that he is better. Am surprised howmuch better he is and how fast he is. Still doesn’t have great hands.

4. Emelin. I love Emelin but have other teams found a weakness getting around him? What do you do? Very simple. ONLY play himon the left side. Every time Emelin hits a string of trouble it is when he is playing the offside. Often it makes him more tentative. Or it affects his judgement.

5. Markov. We KNOW Marky has helped the PP, but is Markov really as good as he was pre-inujury, or are people saying that because he hit the twine a couple of times. No he is not as good as before but he is way better than any reasonable expectation. That whole “if Markov is 80% of what he used to be, they will be okay” thing. He kind of looks about 80% in his own end and 100% in the offensive zone.

Steve, complete agreement. FOr the NHLPA to make a big deal out of the Gomez and Redden buyout and not protest this is complete hypocrisy. How Boston is allowed out of Salary Cap Hell without doing anything is wrong, for the Islanders to now supposedly achieve salary floor without paying is wrong.

To me this is proof, again, that whatever Jacobs wants he gets.

Perhaps Bettman and Jacobs are enjoying a good chuckle out of this one.

Agree it doesnt fell right and isnt right. But the one difference is that Tim Thomas ‘reneged’ on his contract and therefore allowed the Bruins the option t suspend him… which is at the crux of the difference.

I’ve been very critical about White’s gaffe last night, but I’m not sure I’d bench him. Surely he knows what he did wrong and can modify his play appropriately. I mean, I know it’s not the first time, but at some point it has to he through. I am sure that this time Therrien has read him the proverbial riot act.

I have read almost all the posts and haven’t noticed anybody else mention this, apologies if I missed it, but after each of Mtls 1st 2 goals who did MT come back with? DD and coy..and both times Sabres quickly tied it. Now I get that he was trying to build on the momentum of the goal by coming back with what he may think is his number 1 line, but numbers show that they aren’t the most productive trio, and are most susceptible to giving up goals. check top 3 +/-, maybe playing against weaker opponents but keeping them out at one end and putting them in at the other is still what it is all about..I am losing faith in DD and coy

Boone wrote questioning the coach for having Armstrong on the ice at the end of the game.

Let’s address that question. Who SHOULD be on the ice to close out a game:

Up front, Therrien sent out a line of Plekanec , Eller, and Armstrong

Here are the stats: (even strength only) minutes of ice time per goal allowed: * not counting the final goal with two seconds left last night.

Forwards:

Prust ; minutes of ICE time (ES) per GA 89
GAllagher : minutes of ICE time (ES) per GA 83
Armstrong; minutes of ICE time (ES) per GA 80
GAlchenyuk: minutes of ICE time (ES) per GA 51
Bourque: minutes of ICE time (ES) per GA 45
Eller: minutes of ICE time (ES) per GA 43
Pacioretty: minutes of ICE time (ES) per GA 36
Cole: minutes of ICE time (ES) per GA 31
Gionta: minutes of ICE time (ES) per GA 29
Moen: minutes of ICE time (ES) per GA 25
Plekanec ; minutes of ICE time (ES) per GA 23
Desharnias; minutes of ICE time (ES) per GA 22

Left out one guy: Ryan White, in 53 minutes of ES ice time there has been ZERO goals allowed while he is on the ice. (that’s when he is on the ice skating, not sitting in the sin bin)
On defense Therrien had Georges and Markov to close out the game.

Here is the defensive stats to date: (again not including the final goal)

Defense

Georges: minutes of ICE time (ES) per GA 55
Subban ; minutes of ICE time (ES) per GA 52
Diaz: minutes of ICE time (ES) per GA 45
Emelin: minutes of ICE time (ES) per GA 33
Bouillion: mi nutes of ICE time (ES) per GA 29
Markov: minutes of ICE time (ES) per GA 23

So it one was being accurate, it seems as if the mistake was having Plekanec instead of either Prust, Gallagher, Bourque, or Galchenyuk, or even White. Perhaps this mistake can be overlooked, or excused, because of Pleks face off ability (something we can analyze in a future post).

The bigger mistake was having Markov on the ice instead of PK, Diaz, Emelin or Bouillion.

Markov may very well be our best OFFENSIVE defenceman . He is not our best defensive defenseman.

Will anyone criticize Therrien for having Markov and Plekanec on the ice to close out a game? not likely. For the casual fan, Its hard to criticize the coach for that mistake. It’s much easier to question Armstrong being on the ice , but from Mr. Boone???? …….
I thought you were better than that.

I would also question the coaches choice of shooters in the ShootOut, but as far as I am concerned the shootouts are for the fans, and in reality they should not count in the stats. But that is a debate for another day.

I wonder what would happen to your stats if quality of the opposition and o-zone vs d-zone starts are considered. Prust has been playing with the kids and has been getting the most favourable match-ups and mostly non d-zone starts. Plekanec often faces the best players in the NHL with many d-zone starts.

If you were to use your stats to decide, Gallagher would be sent out, which obviously would not be ideal given some of the other choices.

The stats that I posted do not reflect the quality of the opposition , or whether they started in the offensive zone or the defensive zone.

I do not think that Gallager should be on the ice to close out the game, he is a rookie, But Bourque, and Arnstrong are veterans who have been very strong defensively this year. My post was refrring to Boone questioning Armstrong” defensive abilities.

I, personally, would not automatically put out Markov when we are trying to hold a lead, either.

Interesting post. Thank you. I point out that Therrien is still learning his players, they didn’t have training camp, and he wasn’t here last year. It is inevitable he is going to make tactical mistakes now that he won’t make in another month or so. Especially after we’ve played other teams at least twice and had time to watch video.

I would also suggest while your number crunching is impressive, keep in mnind that sample size can greatly distort statistics.

That said, keep up the good work. Much better than reading “Budaj sucks” for the 20th time.

I am aware that sample size is a big factor, and things can change quickly especially early in the season.

My point was that putting Armstrong in that situation having only been on the ice for one goal in over 80 minutes of even strength ice time could hardly be called a mistake.

Some people “play” results. If things go wrong they look to blame the easiest targets. Whether they gave up a goal should not factor in ones judgement of the coaches decision of who was given ice time in different situations.

Cmon, folks, there’s lots to enjoy this season, and what I enjoy most so far (in additionto the kids, of course) is watching Rene Bourque. He is the complete package: speed, strength, size, grit, vision, offensive and defensive smarts and nifty skills – and so far, I haven’t seen him take a shift off. So refreshing.

All i have to say is Ott was in the crease and KICKED Budaj into the net so the goal shouldn’t have counted! Last weekend an Ottawa players shadow interfered with Price and a goal was disallowed? Horrible reffeering and completely agree with Don Cherry(1st time in a while) with the linesman waving TOO many players out of face-offs, just drop the puck!

10 games in, and a better record than Tampa, the Rangers, the Flyers, the Caps, the Red wings or the Blues. Even with the last two games looking rocky, they are doing okay.

We can all get upset at White being “thrown under a bus”, but that’s meaningless. The coach could not give excuses for him. He played solo hockey trying to consolidate his job (if he is intelligent) or he played boneheaded inexcusable hockey if he isn’t. Either way, he has given points to the opponents twice. He needs some time in the Minors, at the least.

The biggest test of Therrien is going to be how long it is till we see White again. If it’s soon, he’s weak.

But White is so minor in the scheme of things (as long as he isn’t playing) that he’s hardly a blip. The team is competitive, even if it has lost momentum. This still stands to be an entertaining season.

We just have to pool our money and send Timo on another cruise. They get nervous when he’s watching them.

He’ll be benched for a few games, and hopefully he’ll learn. I love White but he cost us that game. I know it, you know it, the coach knows it, and really, he even knows it. He basically said as much, didn’t he?
Stop defending him ffs. If he knows he cost his teammates 2 points, why are we even asking the question?
Now let’s move on.

Go Habs Go!!

“Fans are great, but the quickest way to start losing is to listen to them.” – Sam Pollock

Please don’t ever try to insinuate that you have any clue what I know. I think I’ve made it pretty clear throughout the day what I know about the White situation. If you disagree, that’s fine. We don’t have to agree or share viewpoints.

But my original post from this morning stands. I hope all the neanderthals on this website that piss and moan about this Habs player or that needing to beat up Player X for some perceived slight remember their reactions to White doing just that.

I am 100% against fighting in hockey. It is unbelievably stupid. White was a moron last night and it cost the team a power play goal.

I also hope that people that have a tendency to wave the Habs flag and tell everybody to get behind their players remember this incident in the future when they feel the inclination to blather about how others need to be good fans.

Sorry…thought you knew. My bad.
I am ok with having a tough guy on the team and ok with fighting in the proper place. There is a huge difference between wanting a fighter on the team and wanting White to do what he did. This is why being a fighter is not easy. You have to pick the proper times to fight. What White did was not what a fighter should do. That’s something he will learn, hopefully fast.
And again, I’m a White fan. Saying he made a mistake that cost the Habs the game does not change that.

Go Habs Go!!

“Fans are great, but the quickest way to start losing is to listen to them.” – Sam Pollock

a) White made a bad decision – cost the team a goal
b) a interference call was missed cost the team a win – but conversely, a phantom interference call (Ottawa) was a win (Karma?)

I wasn’t broken about the loss – they will get over it and beat Toronto on Saturday. Mtl has a good team, decent balance only some parts aren’t firing on all cylinders. Trade away a weak link and then it comes back on you like a roaring tiger…and then we would all say…why did we ever trade that player…brings to mind Borque (not so hot last season), Cole (great year, slow start this one)…DD small but tenacious…Montreal has become hard to play against, they are scoring more goals 5 on 5, the PP is clicking and so is the PK..some tweaks will be made…and the wins will come..

If Silfverberg din’t get called for goaltender interference, then the Sens would have tied the game. That doesn’t mean that the Habs would have lost the game though, only that it would have become tied at that point. Montreal may have still won the game even if that goal was not called back.

I am finding the officiating is suspect. There are questionable calls that alter the outcome of way too many games. Goalie interference should be consistently called but it is a pick and chose situation depending on the ref. Quick whistles or no whistles are also tilting the game.

Forget about the loss for now and enjoy some junior hockey tonight. Two of the top three draft picks in the next draft are going tonight. In my opinion, the two best teams in the Q play tonight on Sporstnet when Halifax plays Moncton.

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I can’t tell if the Habs are great or terrible because sometimes they win and sometimes they lose.

Grigorenko hounds Desharnais into a defensive zone turnover. Subban watches Ott skate right by him and get wide open in front of the net. Ott gets off a quick shot that Budaj probably should have had. Mistakes by Desharnais, Subban and Budaj result in a quick “push-back” goal by the Sabres.

Following another Montreal goal, Foligno chips a puck by Alexei Emelin, who makes an absolutely terrible pinch at the line. Ennis blows by Cole and gets a partial breakaway, shooting before Markov can get across. Unlike most, I don’t think Budaj was to blame for that goal…I’ve seen that one scored on just about every goalie in the NHL.

On the power play goal by Vanek, Eller probably should have rotated down, as he was going to be too late to stop the point shot and Vanek was his man. Gorges tried to block the shot and missed, and was consequently badly out of position when Ennis got the rebound. Gorges was able to disrupt the shot, but he was now on the ice and could do nothing as Vanek came in to get the rebound. Gorges probably should have recognized his peril with two Sabres off to the side, but the blame for that one is on White for putting the team in that situation.

And then there is the tying goal, where the blame goes to Tim Peel for making a terrible call. But Montreal dodged a bullet against Ottawa, so this is basically a make-up call for that.

And I liked Daniel Alfredsson’s take on that non-call, perhaps good advice for Habs fans after losses:

“We thought we had tied the game and they waived it off. We didn’t think it should have been waived off but that’s the way it goes. We still had some good chances after that. It wasn’t to be.”

Montreal had a power play after the White brain fart and could have put the game out of reach. Instead, they had a completely uneventful PP, not even managing a shot on net (Subban missed and Diaz and Pacioretty each had an attempt blocked).

We had the game in the bag, then the stupid penalties ensue, and the Sabres tie it up, it’s that simple. The Habs were the fatigued team in the third and they were up, then they get a downer like that and Buff is back in. Not to mention the tying goal should not have counted. It was just bad luck, but it is a game that SHOULD have been.

When a player makes a mistake, and has done so twice already this season. And this player is disciplined for his mistake, understands it, says all the right things about playing smarter and understanding the need not to make that mistake again and then comes back and in his first game back makes the same mistake once again. I find it very easy to be especially hard on that player.

Add to it that its not something like, missing the net… or making a bad pass… or something with execution. However instead its the mental mistake of being undisciplined at the exact wrong time of the game, and it becomes 100% UNACCEPTABLE.

There are mistakes that happen in hockey, to every game and every team and they are learning experiences, and forgiveable issues. Then there are mental mistakes, mistakes involving discipline, where the player really should know better. And those are not corrected. And these are not near as easy to brush under the rug.

Desharnais has taken at least three penalties on power plays. That is a pretty glaring mistake, as they are usually in the offensive zone or neutral zone. Worst play in hockey, always unacceptable.

Plekanec has abandoned his man on defensive coverage, resulting in at least 3 goals in the past week. Hard to get on Plekanec, as he has been the team’s best player. But a couple of them were inexcusably weak for a player of his reputation and seniority.

It happens. I’m not absolving White of blame…he will sit and probably should. The fan and media reaction has been pretty grossly exaggerated, however.

It’s all about leverage. Unfortunately for White, the nature of his mistakes and the result of his undisciplined play is plain for all to see, and he doesn’t contribute to the level Plekanec does, which would absolve him of some of the blame.

I have to think this team is a bit fragile from the past year. Momentum is a big deal at this time. Soft goals from a rusty backup probably aren’t as big a deal as a dumb mental mistake with a 2 goal lead.

I never felt comfortable with last night’s lead. This team has had far too many of these brain farts to be cruising.

The old “worse lead in hockey” comes up here. Montreal was playing with fire cruising with a two goal lead. They should have floored it after Plekanec put them up 4-2, but they went into a pretty sloppy back and forth style of hockey for 6 minutes before Whitegate.

Agreed. But if it wasn’t White, somebody else probably would have taken one. They took 5 straight of the undeniably stupid variety in the second period. Thankfully for the culprits, the team bailed them out.

B@chris. Budaj?Really? He faced over 40 shots ,got mugged regularly in his own paint! Miller faced 30shots and had a clear crease and it still went to shoot out. The big problem was the same as last year.Inability of soft D to cream and clear forwards from the crease. Deja vu all over again.

I’m not blaming Budaj. I’m pointing out the craziness of absolving one player of blame while levelling it at another.

It WAS a team loss. Budaj played decently. He did not inspire a great deal of confidence at times, as he was kicking out MASSIVE rebounds that put his defencemen in bad situations.

But he made the stops he needed to make for the most part.

No team can clear forwards out from in front of the net when they turtle. Los Angeles, a defensive team with big defencemen, gave up a late goal to the Oilers earlier (the infamous Yakupov slide followed) because they were digging at the puck in their panic to get to the final buzzer.

You can’t bulldoze players at the expense of the puck. If they don’t have it, it is interference. If they do have it and you’re trying to shove them, they get a whack at it and the goal ensues.

I would argue Montreal’s issue is that some of their players try to block too many shots and therefore don’t maintain good defensive positioning. They need to trust their goalies to make the saves and make sure they have the opponents near the net tied up, as these are the guys that usually score off the ensuing rebounds.

I feel like Saturday is now a must win for the Habs if they are going to challenge for a playoff spot this season. I know how ridiculous that sounds, but at the same time I think a loss to the Leafs would turn this last stretch into a real concern rather than a blip. In a short season like this, blips are fine but losing streaks are not.

I know how early it is in the season, but I also know that there’s only 39 games to go.

Agree. I a shortened season there are 2 things to avoid. Long term injuries to too many key players…and a losing streak. I think 3 losses in a row would be the most a team can handle if they want to stay in the playoff picture. And that’s assuming they don’t just then win 1 and lose 3 again! The only reason I wouldn’t call it a MUST WIN at this point is cause many teams are very close in the standings. At .500 and you are still in a playoff spot. But if this is the silimar standings at the midway point, and then you lose 3 or more in a row, it probably is the write-off of the playoff for any team.

Been reading over the course of the day all the posts regarding White and what occured last nite . granted he made a bonehead mistake taking the double penalty but maybe Ruff is the guy who is the genius here. Do you suppose when he say White on the ice ..he started licking his chops !!…and mentioned to Ott to stir things up a bit ? …Ruff is a cagey experienced coach capable of this kind of stuff . Ruff 1 – MT 0 ….

If the Habs miss the playoffs by a point they have bigger problems than what White did in this game…give it a rest. Over the course of a season, there will be games the team loses but should have won and games they win but should have lost. 6-3-1 is a pretty darn good record and there is no reason they can’t make it 7-3-1 against a weak Toronto team on Saturday. Half of the people who post on here are hypochondriacs who think there is a serious malady on the team that must be cured ASAP after every loss. Its a 48 game season…lets all try and stay positive, yes?

Kerry Fraser just got crossed off of Tim Peel’s Christmas card list. Fraser’s ruling- the Buffalo goal should have been disallowed by the on-ice officials because of goaltender interference. See the latest edition of C’mon Ref on TSN.ca

White is a standup guy, who is both appreciated and respected by his teammates. He made a couple of mistakes, which Therrien will rip a strip for. He, however is the grit this team is sadly missing.
Boston pushed and shoved Desharnais,Gionta and Gallagher the other night like they were bothersome gnats. Where were Patch,Coley and Eller?? ..Borques got balls, Prust has and so does White and Moen. After that, well we’re pretty small. In stature and in backbone I’m afraid… !!! just saying what’s been said before.
I know !!!

I saw more of DD on his knees than actually on his feet during that Boston game. Man, I just want spring to come and a real big offensive 1st line centre playing on our team… I like DD, but I think he’s an AHLer or 4th liner with some skills.. his size really is a handicap.

Even though White obviously had a big role in the loss, can people stop blaming Budaj for this http://www.tsn.ca/nhl/story/?id=415537, acting like Ott wasn’t in the middle of the crease pushing Budaj back with his leg.

Thinking about going to the game tomorrow night. Does anyone have any experience with Ticket Vault on the Hab website? I am wondering if I wait until tomorrow if there will be be more tickets available, or if I should just take what I can get now. Any help appreciated.

I’m sorry, but I have to say it seems (big surprise) this White penalty is being blown WAY out of proportion. Yes, he screwed up and took a stupid penalty, but we were still up 4-3 when he got out of the box. Yes, White was spoken to about this specifically proabably right before the game, but, again, we were still up 4-3 when he got out. People (yes, including you Boone) are acting like White shot it into his own net with 2 seconds left! This was not a “Steve Bernier game 7 of 2012 finals” kind of game changing penalty. WE WERE STILL UP 4-3 WHEN HE GOT OUT OF THE BOX. Yes, it was dumb, but come on people, what’s next, maybe goat chants next home game?!?

If we had won the skills competition, no one would even be talking about this…. IMHO

You are positive of this? Buffalo couldn’t just waltz up and score because of a brain cramp from Montreal?

This is a what if? scenario. We can’t possibly know one way or the other how the next 10 minutes would go. Montreal had demonstrated a vulnerability to weird counter-attack goals against the flow of the play.

Without those penalties, there is no question in my mind the Habs win the game.
That really says it all. Maybe they should have won anyway, but the penalties were the biggest reason they didn’t.
That said, I like White, but he has to smarten up.

Go Habs Go!!

“Fans are great, but the quickest way to start losing is to listen to them.” – Sam Pollock

“When you’ve got the momentum in a football game… that is a time to keep going and get it into the end zone, … We want to score for America’s families.”

Two quotes from the great Vince Lombardi. Seems to me as soon as White took that penalty, Buffalo seized the opportunity to grab momentum, and at the same time the Habs lack of confidence became contagious.

No Excuses, it is up to the team to stop the other teams momentum. Currently or at least last night, our squad was not good enough to do so.

Great quotes, Hab, but Lombardi’s point was that you keep the momentum and not recklessly give it away which is what White and the Habs did last night. That idiotic penalty gave the Sabres the momentum and brought them back from the grave when they were dead. The Habs should have put another nail in their coffin instead of raising them from death like Lazarus.

Boy, did the Sabres ever seize the momentum from the idiotic penalty and the ensuing power play goal.

Montreal had a chance to close out the game. Like you said, they failed. It isn’t the first time this season that they’ve struggled in this regard, and it was a recurring theme last season.

Instead of all the chatter about White doing exactly what half the people crucifying him for today were begging guys like White, Laraque, Blunden, etc. to do for the past 5 years, why don’t we actually focus on the themes that are developing for this team?

1) The team is just terrible on faceoffs, forcing them to dramatically over-rely on Tomas Plekanec.

2) The team turtles whenever an opponent gets in their zone in the final minute of a tight game. Admit it…many of us KNEW a goal was coming, watching the Habs easily concede the blue line and then collapse down into the crease allowing the Sabres to just jam away with impunity because the ref wasn’t going to blow it dead with that many bodies in tight.

3) They can’t put teams away. They had a minute of empty net staring at them and couldn’t pot one, as is so often the case with Montreal. I can’t think of a team that has struggled to score an empty net goal more than the Montreal Canadiens over the past 2-3 seasons. It is insane.

4) They gave up two goals on shifts immediately after scoring last night (both times the Desharnais line). In the 5-1 loss to the Senators, the Habs gave up their lead just 2:22 after scoring. In the 4-3 OT win against Winnipeg, they took a 2-0 lead only to see Winnipeg score just 1:48 later. That’s a trend that needs to be turned around, because it just sucks the energy out of the building.

the faceoffs drive me absolutely mad! it seems that every single important defensive zone faceoff is lost by the habs. We don’t have a single reliable faceoff guy (i.e. bergeron, toews.. not talking about them as players but just their faceoff abilities).
Allowin a goal right after you just scored is also awful. Also I think Subban needs way more ice time. This kid is a pure athlete and is very strong to boot. He can skate the puck, pass the puck, flip the puck and he can do that while taking a hit. He can also move people as well. IMO he should of been on the ice for the last minute.
As for ryan white, complete moron. That is not toughness, that is him being an idiot and not understanding the flow of the game whatsoever.
IMO Budaj needs more games, because this will keep happening due to him playing less then 20 games in a 2 year span

I’m not sure how much more they should play Subban. He played 21:03 last night. I’d like to see him around 22-23 minutes, but not much higher. I think they burn out these guys when they get up into 24-26 minutes per game, and also “chill” their other defencemen who end up sitting two much.

My Mom went to the game last night, she called me this morning, while she loved the atmosphere of the game, she was sooo dissappointed in the result. I have to admit, I had a Habs jersey on and a Jets hat last night. Perhaps I was tempting fate throwing that much mud in the face of my enemies last night.

I hate when that happens nothing like being Happy cause the team is winning and fans of the other team are quiet cause they are losing then bam your team ends up losing and you get taunted the rest of the night -_-

Dear mr bergeven, i live a clik from the dorval train station.i would only be too happy as a die hard habs fan to spend gas money out of my own pocket to go pick up mr.white and personally drive his undissaplined azz to the train station and put him on the rails back to hamilton,so he can think seriously about his 3 rd offence that now cost our team a win.

The Therrien rant is often given as an example of why he is such a bad coach. I think it was the turning point for one of the most impressive turn-arounds in NHL history. A turn-around only possible with very strong leadership.

First of all, it happened right after he took over the team in January 2006, 10 games in. Pittsburgh responded well at first to a new coach, but then the team went back to its old habits and the new message was not getting through.

A lot of people imply it was an anger-fuelled rant, that he lost his cool. But as this Canadian Press article states, the decision to call out the team publicly was made as an organization. It was premeditated. If you watch his demeanor, it is deliberate, not angry or frustrated. He wasn’t even answering the questions, he had a message to deliver.

Not only did the Pittsburgh organization not mind him calling out the team publicly, they endorsed it. They may have hired him because of his willingness to be honest and straight forward. Why? Because he pulled the exact same stunt in Wilkes-Barre one year prior and it helped turn that team around. Pittsburgh knew *exactly* what they were getting in Therrien. If you listen to the rant, one of the reasons it is powerful is because his description of the team was dead-eye accurate. Truth can be powerful.

What happened next is also telling. Pittsburgh were a last place team when Therrien took over. He made his famous rant in January of 2006, 10 games in as coach. The next year the Penguins made one of the biggest single season improvements in NHL history, going from 58 points to 105 points in one season. Two years later the Penguins made it within two wins of a Stanley Cup with Therrien as coach, losing to Detroit in 6 games.

The next season Therrien was fired and Bylsma coached the team to a Stanley Cup win. I don’t think that would have been possible without Therrien laying the foundation for a winning culture.

I think “the rant” was the turning point for that organization. There is certainly no evidence that it hurt the team. Sometimes when a culture is broken in an organization, drastic measures are required. Some people are offended by such tactics. I think if the situation calls for it, anything that works should be considered. If it results in a parade down St. Catherines, I say rant away.

Last night White made an error that was plainly obvious to everyone watching. So when Therrien acknowledges the mistake publicly, he is not exactly “calling him out”. Therrien was not going to sugarcoat it, and he held himself equally accountable. I hope he does not do it after every loss, but it has it’s place.

Great post Phil, and I think that on the topic of public accountability, he admitted that White in for Moen was “not his best decision” – the coach admitted his own mistake. That’s the very spirit of the thing.

The Penguins responded to that rant by losing 7 straight games. On the season, the Penguins finished 14-29-8 under Therrien, including 11-14-5 post-rant.

The following season, the miraculous turnaround, coincided with the arrival of Evgeni Malkin. I’ll tell you what…if you can find another All-World player that isn’t currently in the NHL and add him to the Habs roster, I will concede that Therrien is a genius. If you can add another top-5 draft pick (Jordan Staal) at the same time, that would be great too!

There is no doubt that there was more to the turn around than the rant. A winning formula requires many ingredients, including talent. And good coach can only take a team so far. But if the culture is broken, I don’t care who you have on the roster, it’s not going to work. Therrien at least deserves credit for creating an environment that allowed the team to start winning.

Yeah, they had a bad season post-rant too, but it still signifies the start of accountability and a changing of the culture. And sure, Malkin “arrived” that season, but he was brought up under MT, who had a successful run with the Penguins.

Hopefully you guys are right about Cole. He looks like a proud guy so i´m hoping he can squeeze one more good year out of himself, for the sake of the team.
But I think there´s a very real chance molson will regret that contract next year, and in the fourth year Cole will be 37 before the season is out if i´m not mistaken; that´s downright scary.

So, before the season started, how many thought that after 10 games the Habs would be tied for 8th place overall in the league (point%) with only 3 eastern conf teams doing better? How many would have thought they’d be more than happy with that kind of a start to the season? Anyone happy about it now?

Speaking for myself, I am happy to see them sitting this high after 10 game, it is more than I expected. Of course there is room for improvement (there always is), but none the less, the overall results for the team after 10 games are very good.

Three years ago the Habs made it to the ECF as a team, Halak was the biggest part of that feat, but it still was a team effort. Last night the Habs lost as a team, White was the biggest part of the loss, but they lost as a team.

I wouldn’t give up on White yet, but he has to now show he is learning from it. I still like what he can bring, and in the big picture this team isn’t winning a cup this year. I am hopeful he will indeed learn. The team also needs to get better on the PK, Carey Price helps it alot, but the team needs to improve and it will over time.

I think White has some nice skills, but the 4th liner is one of the more easier guys to replace. If he’s continuing to cost his teams games with his undisciplined play, then he’s gotta go. I’d put Prust there to center the 4th line and move Eller with the kids.

You did not post the entire remarks of Therrien. You have 100% right to say that Therrien did not throw White under the bus.. just as I have the right to be of the opinion that he did… although I have never used that phrase which I dont like.

But when you are offereing proof to, you have to give the full picture. You should have included his remarks which start with “Unacceptable… and ends with “cost the team the game” for a truer judgement to be made.

On a more positive note, I loved Gally’s goal from Prust. And even though Galchenyuk wasn’t in on that play, where was he? Cutting across the crease right in front of Miller. He may have even screened him a bit.

We need a 4th line centre. Muckers like Armstrong, Moen and Blunden can’t play centre. White is there by default. The team had the same problem last year. Noke is on the injury list but he’s no barn burner.

Prust can play Center. He was a Center in Junior and has played some at the pro level. I like Prust on the third line (and believe Bergevin and Therrien brought him in to play third line) but Eller needs a spot.

Sure, but acknowledge that the screw-up had nothing to do with the end result.

In the roughly 12 minutes after the power play goal, the Sabres managed 3 shots.

It was only the final flurry, after a completely dominant shift by Gionta, Plekanec and Bourque, that the Sabres got the tying goal. And in the meantime, the Habs had a completely ineffective power play (which was probably a far bigger culprit in generating momentum for the Sabres) and couldn’t get clear to score on an open net, a common occurrence for this team at the end of games.

why is everyone blaming white ? i blame the coach for starting are backup and cost us the game. this is stupidity at its finest if price is not tired after 8 games . price should start every game till there is some distance from ninth place. have him not take morning skate and miss a practice if playing buda continues then kiss the playoffs goodbye. stupid is what stupid does

But I think the beginning of the stupidity were the brutal decisions made that cost two goals in the second period. After that, I definitely had no confidence (as is usually the case, with the exception of the 6-1 win over Buffalo) that the Habs were in control. They make every team feel like they still have a chance!

I think it has become clear that our so-called #1 line from last year is no longer effective.
I think the main reason is that Cole is not carrying the puck deep like he was last year.
DD is unable to bring the puck into offensive zone – too slow and weak. Also very weak in our zone – not much comment about he coughed up the puck leading to Sabres first goal.
Eller is doing everything that DD is not. He moves the puck , is involved physically and is being rewarded with more ice time. Now it is time to reward him with effective line mates – Patches for one and I hope a more effective Cole.

They have our two biggest wingers? Not a lack of physical presence. Just bad play and as mentioned above, DD can’t handle the defensive load that comes along with logging those types of minutes. If they’re not producing or sustaining pressure the team is really vulnerable in there own end.

Everyone complaining about the “top line” realises that they scored the 2 goals in our last win against OTT, not even a week ago right. Pacioretty got an assist on DD’s goal and Cole scored the winner on a backhand in front of the net. Only here would people be sticking up for White, while screaming to split up the “top line.”

They had 1 good game all year (against ottawa), Cole’s goal was on the PP and can be heavily attributed to Franky Bouillons beauty set up. As a line they’ve haven’t shown any flashes of last year and have been one of the weaker PP units as well.

The tying goal last night was clearly a make up call for the Ottawa screwup made against the Sens.

69.3 Contact Inside the Goal Crease – If an attacking player initiates contact with a goalkeeper, incidental or otherwise, while the goalkeeper is in his goal crease, and a goal is scored, the goal will be disallowed.
If a goalkeeper, in the act of establishing his position within his goal crease, initiates contact with an attacking player who is in the goal crease, and this results in an impairment of the goalkeeper’s ability to defend his goal, and a goal is scored, the goal will be disallowed.
If, after any contact by a goalkeeper who is attempting to establish position in his goal crease, the attacking player does not immediately vacate his current position in the goal crease (i.e. give ground to the goalkeeper), and a goal is scored, the goal will be disallowed. In all such cases, whether or not a goal is scored, the attacking player will receive a minor penalty for goalkeeper interference.
If an attacking player establishes a significant position within the goal crease, so as to obstruct the goalkeeper’s vision and impair his ability to defend his goal, and a goal is scored, the goal will be disallowed.
For this purpose, a player “establishes a significant position within the crease” when, in the Referee’s judgment, his body, or a substantial portion thereof, is within the goal crease for more than an instantaneous period of time.

We have a much better team this year – capable of competing every night.

And we have some kinks to work out, including becoming accustomed to a new system and coaching staff.

In recent games some mistakes were made by the D-Men and Forwards. Lets stay calm and carry on!

However, I believe this new configuration has no place for White’s antics (I have always struggled with why he is in the NHL). He has not got the message, either he is not listening or thinking, either way send him packing! Continue to add more skilled physical players.

Relax everyone, yes I’m just as upset at losing as anyone but I’m hopeful that this team will learn from blowing back to back 3rd period leads. Last night’s loss was a bitter pill to swallow for fans & players on this team. I also think Price should’ve played but I thought Budaj was very good in net. Don’t know how many more chances Therien will give White. He definitely cost us 2 losses with his selfish play.

LOSING STREAK!! Panic time people, HH rev up the tank! Sell the vets for picks! Play the kids 23 minutes/game! Whee!!
Or you know, we could just appreciate the Habs good start and realize this team still has some issues to fix, but they can compete for a playoff spot while they try to fix those issues.